Walking and Talking

My aim when starting to lead netwalks was to get people to mingle whilst enjoying fresh air and green scenery. So far its turned out pretty well as most people are oblivious to the scenery and I don't get many requests to provide information like a Tour Guide ! Thankfully taking in the fresh air is a natural body function and luckily it seems as though the talking starts when the walking starts. However I have a challenge coming up to lead netwalks for two organisations in Nottingham for people who may not have done any networking before or who don't relish the thought of striking up conversations with strangers.
I've previously posted a blog giving a tip to have some questions prepared for networking and listing 10 generic questions. One of the netwalks is on behalf of TheBIgWheel.org  and is aimed at retailers so I thought it might be worth reiterating the tip to have some "stock in trade" questions ready to take with you.See this Blog post
I've also tried to put a retial slant on these questiosn by spoken with our good friend and retail consultant  Anna Brown of  Anna Brown Consulting  . These are what I've come up with

1. How long have you worked for your company ?
2. How did you get involved with that job ?
3. What do you love most about it ?
4. What separates your company from the competition ?
5.  "Many of our famous name retailers are struggling at the moment, or indeed leaving the High Streets/Shopping Centres altogether. How does this make you feel?" "How do you rally together to keep your morale, and that of your teams, high?"
6.  "What are the challenges facing you at the moment, and how can you work together more collaboratively to keep your own, and your business, performance strong in these harsh economic times?" "What is it you can do to delight your customers and retain their loyalty and spend?"